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Sylvia’s Lemon Drizzle Bread

In the early 1980’s our church home bible study group used to meet at Sylvia’s house and sometimes she made us cake to go with our tea and coffee. This was one of our favourites and I managed to get her to let me have the recipe. I love the mixture of Orange and Lemon zests that flavour the cake, as well as the crunchy sticky lemony topping and moist inside.

Sylvia always called it Lemon Bread, but as it is so similar to Lemon Drizzle Cake, I have slightly amended her title. Be sure to pour the topping over as soon as the cake comes out of the oven: it will not be absorbed properly if the cake is allowed to cool.

1. Line the tin with baking parchment. Pre-heat the oven to 180oC/170oC Fan/350oF/Gas 4

2. Beat the caster sugar and margerine until well combined. The mixture will look like dessicated coconut when it is fully combined.

3. Beat in the lemon and orange rind along with the beaten egg.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder together and stir them into the mixture with the milk.

5. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake on the centre shelf of a moderate oven for 70-90 minutes.

6. While it is cooking, make the topping: squeeze the lemon juice and mix with the caster sugar.

7. Remove the cake from the oven and immediately take it from the tin and peel away the parchment. Place the cake on a wire rack with a plate underneath to catch any lemon topping drips.

8. Carefully pierce the top surface of the cake with a thin skewer (or a fork). Slowly and carefully pour over the lemon topping, allowing it to soak into the surface rather than run off onto the plate. Any that does run onto the plate can be poured back into the jug and then over the cake again.

9. Leave to cool thoroughly before serving. The lemon topping should have penetrated well into the cake which will be moist and lemony. Although it is called bread it does not need butter, however it would be extra delicious spread with home made Lemon Curd.

Is caster sugar the same as confectioners sugar?
—–I had to check on this… As I understand it, UK caster (castor) sugar is known as superfine sugar in the USA (you can make your own by lightly grinding granulated sugar: sometimes I just use granulated with no problems, though some cake makers would throw up their hands in horror!). USA Confectioners sugar is UK Icing sugar and is a very fine powder. I found these links helpful:

I just want to be sure…. 30 OUNCES OF MARGARINE FOR 8 OUNCES OF FLOUR????????
—–Thank you for pointing this out. It was a fairly obvious typo with the o of ozs being replaced by a 0. The grams is correct however, which should have given you a clue! It should of course be 3ozs of margarine. The recipe has now been corrected.
h/e

With apologies to my family …

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